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DCI Neil Paget #1
Fatal Flaw
At Thornton Hill Girls' School in Shropshire, England, most of the students have gone home for Christmas. All but Monica Shaw - and she is discovered dead in her room Christmas Day, an apparent suicide, and the dutiful Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget is called to the scene. Though there are a few loose ends, there's little real evidence but the fact that Monica seems to have been an unhappy, unloved teen, and the case is closed. Then a second death, a brutal murder-by-pitchfork at the school's adjoining stables, brings Paget to Thornton Hill again. The victim has a false name - and a snapshot of Dr. Andrea McMillan in his wallet. Paget, a widower in his late thirties who has been dating Andrea for the past few months, learns the hard way that nothing about this case is exactly what it seems. Though he can't believe it, his investigation is leading more and more toward the doctor. Then there's a third murder....
189 pages, Hardcover
First published April 22, 1996
56 people want to read
About the author
Frank Smith
16 books14 followersFrank Allan Smith was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and went to England at the age of six. He was educated there and went to work at the age of 16 in Bletchley Park, the wartime station where enemy communications were being decoded with the aid of the famous Enigma machine (although he had no knowledge of that until many years later). Returning to Canada in 1948, Frank worked for Alberta Government Telephones (now Telus) in Calgary and Edmonton until retiring in 1983.
He began writing in the 1960s. The theme of the first five books, beginning with Corpse in Handcuffs, was espionage in the Cold War years, but when that came to an end he moved on to police procedurals featuring DCI Neil Paget and DS John Tregalles.
He began writing in the 1960s. The theme of the first five books, beginning with Corpse in Handcuffs, was espionage in the Cold War years, but when that came to an end he moved on to police procedurals featuring DCI Neil Paget and DS John Tregalles.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 29, 2020
"'I know it can't change what happened, but I've changed. They helped me in there -- they really did. There was this psychiatrist who used to come once a week...'"
A remarkably unremarkable novel!
Frank Smith's Fatal Flaw (1996) begins with a man pleading for forgiveness for something terrible that he had done to a woman. Then we read about a burglary, where, curiously, nothing seems to be missing. A man is assaulted after leaving a pub. The three seemingly unrelated events are probably designed to pique the reader's curiosity.
The actual setup of the plot appears to have no connection with these events. On Christmas Day, Monica, a 17-year-old student of a Thornton Hill School for Girls is found dead of apparent suicide. While all other girls have gone home for the Christmas break, the victim had to stay on school grounds because her mother was abroad on government business.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget, helped by Detective Sergeant Tregalles, leads the investigation. (I have now discovered that this is the first novel in the DCI Paget series.) Not much is learned during the first days other than that Monica was unhappy and generally unpopular girl. While at the outset it seems that her death had to have something in common with her visit to the nearby stables, the lead does not bring any progress, and suicide seems to be the obvious conclusion.
On a seemingly lighter note one of the threads involves Paget's romantic interest in Andrea, a local doctor. Yet the lightness does not last as the author hints at some dark secrets in Andrea's past.
This procedural/psychological crime novel is as British as they come! Shropshire county is the location, social class plays a significant role in everything that happens, and there is even a hunt event organized at the stables - I wish it were described in greater detail. DCI Paget is very British in his reserve and general demeanor. Yet for me everything is a bit too cliché: the plot, the situations, and characterizations. The detectives, the school personnel - particularly the headmistress and the housemistress - and the stables crowd feel like characters in a crime novel rather than real people.
Alas, the writing is average too, pedestrian and uninspired. I have found only one short passage in the entire novel that made me go "Wow! Nice!":
Two-and-a-half stars.
A remarkably unremarkable novel!
Frank Smith's Fatal Flaw (1996) begins with a man pleading for forgiveness for something terrible that he had done to a woman. Then we read about a burglary, where, curiously, nothing seems to be missing. A man is assaulted after leaving a pub. The three seemingly unrelated events are probably designed to pique the reader's curiosity.
The actual setup of the plot appears to have no connection with these events. On Christmas Day, Monica, a 17-year-old student of a Thornton Hill School for Girls is found dead of apparent suicide. While all other girls have gone home for the Christmas break, the victim had to stay on school grounds because her mother was abroad on government business.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget, helped by Detective Sergeant Tregalles, leads the investigation. (I have now discovered that this is the first novel in the DCI Paget series.) Not much is learned during the first days other than that Monica was unhappy and generally unpopular girl. While at the outset it seems that her death had to have something in common with her visit to the nearby stables, the lead does not bring any progress, and suicide seems to be the obvious conclusion.
On a seemingly lighter note one of the threads involves Paget's romantic interest in Andrea, a local doctor. Yet the lightness does not last as the author hints at some dark secrets in Andrea's past.
This procedural/psychological crime novel is as British as they come! Shropshire county is the location, social class plays a significant role in everything that happens, and there is even a hunt event organized at the stables - I wish it were described in greater detail. DCI Paget is very British in his reserve and general demeanor. Yet for me everything is a bit too cliché: the plot, the situations, and characterizations. The detectives, the school personnel - particularly the headmistress and the housemistress - and the stables crowd feel like characters in a crime novel rather than real people.
Alas, the writing is average too, pedestrian and uninspired. I have found only one short passage in the entire novel that made me go "Wow! Nice!":
"For a moment she had the strangest feeling that the walls of the room had vanished; that there was nothing; she was alone in the universe.Yes, I know the feeling. Marginal recommendation.
The feeling passed, and she just felt empty."
Two-and-a-half stars.
September 2, 2013
Having recently read the newest Frank Smith, I had to go back to the beginning with "Fatal Flaw." Frank Smith does not waste a lot of words. His books are slim volumes that can be read quickly - mostly because they are so riveting.
DCI Neil Paget is a recent widower who has taken some tentative steps to getting back in the dating game with a beautiful doctor at the local hospital. However, she keeps some distance between them. He's not sure why. Like so many wonderful crime novels, you know that things are going to come together in a way that may or may not be satisfactory.
There are plenty of red herrings and possibilities. An astute reader knows that the apparent mugging of a stable hand is much more than meets the eye. The investigations begin with the apparent suicide of Monica, a 17-yr-old girl who has been living in a girls' boarding school since she was 11. The only enjoyment she seems to get is volunteering to help out at the local stables. Even there she is seen as clumsy and unlovable.
She had few friends, was known to be clumsy, and unable to bond. Her parents are divorced, and her father hasn't bothered with her for years. Neither has her mother. She had to stay behind in the school during Christmas because, ostensibly, her mother in the middle of important government conferences. (Wouldn't it have been nice if, like young Ebenezer Scrooge, she had a younger sibling who came to take her home!) Everyone seems to want her death to be tied up neatly as a suicide. However, first the new stable hand is found murdered. Then the second one is also murdered. Frank Smith has definitely made it to be "to be read" pile!
DCI Neil Paget is a recent widower who has taken some tentative steps to getting back in the dating game with a beautiful doctor at the local hospital. However, she keeps some distance between them. He's not sure why. Like so many wonderful crime novels, you know that things are going to come together in a way that may or may not be satisfactory.
There are plenty of red herrings and possibilities. An astute reader knows that the apparent mugging of a stable hand is much more than meets the eye. The investigations begin with the apparent suicide of Monica, a 17-yr-old girl who has been living in a girls' boarding school since she was 11. The only enjoyment she seems to get is volunteering to help out at the local stables. Even there she is seen as clumsy and unlovable.
She had few friends, was known to be clumsy, and unable to bond. Her parents are divorced, and her father hasn't bothered with her for years. Neither has her mother. She had to stay behind in the school during Christmas because, ostensibly, her mother in the middle of important government conferences. (Wouldn't it have been nice if, like young Ebenezer Scrooge, she had a younger sibling who came to take her home!) Everyone seems to want her death to be tied up neatly as a suicide. However, first the new stable hand is found murdered. Then the second one is also murdered. Frank Smith has definitely made it to be "to be read" pile!
August 21, 2014
PROTAGONIST: DCI Neil Paget
SETTING: UK
SERIES: #1 of 10
RATING: 4.25
WHY: There's a web of intrigue surrounding a girls' school in Thornton and a nearby stable. First, a troubled young woman appears to commit suicide after having attended a Christmas party at the stables. Shortly thereafter, there are 2 murders at the stable. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget heads the investigation which drags for a while until a clue kicks in. The plot is nicely twisty and held my interest until the end. I had never heard of this author before reading the book, but I'm planning on adding more of his work to the shelves as I always enjoy a good UK police procedural.
SETTING: UK
SERIES: #1 of 10
RATING: 4.25
WHY: There's a web of intrigue surrounding a girls' school in Thornton and a nearby stable. First, a troubled young woman appears to commit suicide after having attended a Christmas party at the stables. Shortly thereafter, there are 2 murders at the stable. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget heads the investigation which drags for a while until a clue kicks in. The plot is nicely twisty and held my interest until the end. I had never heard of this author before reading the book, but I'm planning on adding more of his work to the shelves as I always enjoy a good UK police procedural.
June 17, 2023
Unexpectedly and pleasantly gay. I would have been bored if Frank Smith had played it like a normie. I giggled like a schoolgirl with the gay revelation. Also, the female characters are not cardboard cut-outs like they usually are when written by men. The bar is on the floor but Frank Smith, I believe, is an ally. Happy pride month.
December 31, 2020
Good solid British mystery
Stay focused until the end
Stay focused until the end
Read
August 11, 2011 What drove 17 year old Monica Shaw to take her life with an overdose of insulin? The pain of being alone and unwanted for the holidays at Thornton Hill Girls' School - or something else? It's a Christmas murder for Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget. And then another ...
liked this one :)
liked this one :)
March 7, 2013
My fave: British murder mystery! Doesn't get any better than this!
June 30, 2015
Was disappointed in this book. have read others in the series, but this one seemed to drag. Still, it won't keep me from checking out the others.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews